Missouri Passes Right To Work 100-59

National Right to Work President Applauds MO Right to Work Passage

Another Victory for Workers in Nationwide Effort to end Forced Unionism

Missouri could soon become the latest state whose citizens enjoy the greater personal freedom and stronger economic growth that come with a Right to Work law following the Missouri House’s vote Wednesday to finally pass Right to Work.

In the state-by-state campaign to free workers from forced unionism, the Missouri General Assembly beat its New Hampshire counterpart in the two states’ contest to become the Nation’s 28th Right to Work state and the sixth such state since 2012.

Springfield, VA (February 2, 2017) – Today, Mark Mix, President of the 2.8 million-member National Right to Work Committee, praised the Missouri General Assembly’s passage of the Missouri Right to Work Bill (SB19), issuing the following statement on the struggle to end forced unionism in the Show Me State and encouraging legislators in New Hampshire to follow the lead recently set by Missouri and Kentucky:

“This is a great day for the hardworking men and women of the Show Me State as the House and Senate have now passed the Missouri Right to Work Bill and sent it to Governor Greitens for his anticipated signature.

“Forced unionism is just plain wrong for workers and state economies. And thanks to mobilized citizens and National Right to Work Committee members, we are bringing politicians to that understanding and seeing Right to Work laws pass in state after state.

“After a years-long struggle involving tens of thousands of mobilized Missourians, the benefits of a Right to Work law are about to be enjoyed, finally, by citizens of the Show Me State.

“Thanks are due especially to Governor Greitens, Speaker Richardson, Chairman Rehder, Senate President Pro-Tem Richard, Chairman Onder, Senator Brown and the thousands of National Right to Work Committee members and identified supporters across Missouri who’ve, again and again, contacted their legislators.

“The Missouri Right to Work Law will free tens of thousands of Missouri workers who have been forced to pay tribute to a union boss just for the privilege of getting and keeping a job so they can provide for their families. The law will also provide a much needed economic boost for Missouri.”

Momentum from Missouri Puts New Hampshire Legislators Under Spotlight

Continued Mix, “As legislators in states like New Hampshire eye passing Right to Work laws for their states, I would encourage them to look at the examples set already this year in Kentucky and now Missouri.

“Right to Work laws simply restore the ability of workers to decide for themselves whether union membership is right for them, reaffirming the right of every worker to voluntarily join a union and protecting each individual’s right to be employed without being forced to join or pay dues or fees to a union boss for the privilege.”

The adoption of Missouri’s Right to Work Law makes Missouri the sixth state in the past five years to outlaw forced unionism. Thanks in large part to efforts by members of the National Right to Work Committee, Indiana (2012), Michigan (2012), Wisconsin (2015), West Virginia (2016) and Kentucky (2017) have all recently passed Right to Work laws.

As Committee members and other opponents of forced unionism celebrate the Missouri General Assembly’s passage of Right to Work, Committee staff are hopeful that efforts in New Hampshire will soon result in victory for opponents of forced unionism in the Granite State as well.

Of course, the nearly 80% of citizens in the Granite State who oppose forced unionism can’t just sit back and count on Governor Sununu and the State Senate and House Republican majorities to automatically free workers and New Hampshire’s economy from Big Labor’s forced-dues stranglehold.

Passage of Right to Work Culmination of a Long-Term Battle

Right to Work supporters in Missouri have seen great progress bringing legislators around on the issue over the last several years — even putting legislation to end forced unionism on the governor’s desk as recently as 2015.

Though vetoed by then-Governor Jay Nixon, the progress made by opponents of forced unionism would place the issue front and center in the 2016 Gubernatorial Election, and Show Me State voters recognized the need for a pro-Right to Work governor, electing outspoken forced-unionism opponent Eric Greitens.

With Governor Greitens’ signing of SB19, the Right to Work Law stands to free tens of thousands of workers in the Show Me State who are forced to pay tribute to a union boss as a condition of employment — or else be fired.

With Right to Work, Missouri’s Future Looks Bright

Not only will the Missouri Right to Work Law free those workers from the shackles of compulsory unionism, but proponents of the legislation expect that enactment of the Right to Work Law will provide significant economic benefits for Missouri and workers in the state.

For the past decade, private sector job growth in Right to Work states has grown twice as fast compared to that in non-Right to Work states like New Hampshire and — until now — Missouri.

And those jobs Right to Work states are gaining are good, high-paying jobs.

According to data from the Departments of Labor and Commerce, from 2005 to 2015, real private sector employee pay and benefits in Right to Work states grew by nearly 17% — almost a third more growth than forced-unionism states saw as a whole and more than double what Missouri and New Hampshire saw individually.

“With the benefits to personal liberty and economic prosperity that go along with Right to Work, and numerous studies demonstrating broad support for Right to Work among voters in state after state, including New Hampshire,” Mark Mix noted, “the issue is unlikely to go away in state capitols until politicians put an end to Big Labor’s coercive forced-unionism privileges once and for all. And as recent history demonstrates, politicians will either realize that or pay a price at the polls.”

###

The National Right to Work Committee, established in 1955, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to the principle that all Americans must have the right to join a union if they choose to, but none should ever be forced to affiliate with a union in order to get or keep a job. Its web address is NRTWC.org.